Maldonado’s public relations firm said in a news release Thursday that San Luis Obispo County Code Enforcement staff informed Maldonado this week that a county investigation into his organic industrial hemp grow has been closed and no action will be taken.

Code Enforcement Supervisor Art Trinidade confirmed that Maldonado provided the necessary documentation, including lab analysis of the plants and evidence that they are being grown in association with agricultural research institution Terra Focus LLC.

“I am grateful that this case is closed, and that San Luis Obispo County officially recognizes my legal right to cultivate industrial hemp on my ranch in San Luis Obispo County,” Maldonado said in the news release. “Furthermore, by resolving this matter so quickly, San Luis Obispo County Code Enforcement acknowledges that at no time did Runway Farms or myself ever have an illegal 30-acre cannabis grow on my ranch as reported ... by local media outlets.”

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Maldonado added that he plans in the near future “to publicly share more about my passion for industrial hemp farming,” calling himself a “strong advocate for industrial hemp and all of its many commercial uses.”

Working off a tip from the Sheriff’s Office, code enforcement officers visited the farm and saw what “appears to be in excess of 30 acres of what appears to be cannabis,” Trinidade previously said.

A deputy on routine patrol spotted the plants on the farm July 26 and talked to workers at the site who said the plants were industrial hemp, according to Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla.

Hemp falls under different rules than what the state defines as cannabis, and under state law, hemp can be cultivated by established agricultural research institutions.

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